Bright Lights
by Radioactive Whisper
Summary: Nick, Liv, a lot of snow and a crashed car. One-shot.


So if you're reading Bait and Switch you might be tempted to kill me. However, if you kill me, I can't write the next chapter of Bait and Switch. I'm just saying. Might I suggest a more medieval punishment like put me in the stocks and throw rotting fruit at me...that way I get to live? You will, of course, have to find me first. Ok but seriously, I am working on the next chapter of Bait and Switch and I really have no business writing this, but it just happened. And, I probably needed a little change of scenery because, let's be honest...writing William Lewis? Makes me want to bleach my brain. Or have a lobotomy. Either/or. So I hope that you will not find my time spent on this a complete waste. And if you're not reading Bait and Switch, I apologize for my rambling above. This is just a cliche little fic about Nick and Liv getting stranded in a snow storm. Also, I should say that when I write it usually takes days, I never post anything without sleeping on it and I review it a bajillion times for errors. I have done no such thing with this. This was done in less than a day, so I didn't even sleep on it. But the main goal here was to get it out of my head. With all of that said, I hope it's enjoyable. And who could forget...I don't own Law and Order SVU or the characters.

* * *

They were driving a back road somewhere between Troy, NY and the city. It was a back road because about 30 minutes ago they'd run across a stop on the highway they were traveling and decided to chance another route that would get them around the accident that was holding up traffic. Olivia watched the snow in the headlights and wondered if that had been such a good idea, but they were both eager to get home after 3 nights away. Nick especially because he wanted to see Zara and she couldn't say she blamed him. So they'd decided to venture out into the snow storm in a car with no 4 wheel drive. Snow fell heavily against the windshield in large flakes, making a light tapping noise as each flake hit the glass. The snow had been falling for hours and it now blanketed everything, including the road they were traveling.

"I can't see a thing," Nick said, lifting and lowering his head as he drove, trying to get a better view of the road. Between the snow falling rapidly to the ground, the wind whipping the snow up off of the ground, and the late hour, visibility was nothing. Olivia tried to make out the road in front of them, but she couldn't. She was glad Nick was doing the driving.

"I think we must've missed a turn somewhere. The sign we passed a few minutes ago said Copake is 20 miles away. We should've turned south by now." Olivia held the map open in front of her and tried to discern their location but was finding it very difficult. She wasn't even 100% sure of what road they were on at this point. It was just too difficult to see and the road they were traveling didn't appear to be marked on the map. The only thing she knew for sure was they were a long way from the highway or any major roads. There was no traffic, although considering the weather, that made some sense. Most people do the smart thing and stay home, she thought.

"Do you have a signal on your phone, yet," Nick asked while eyeing the road. "It'd be easier if we could use the GPS on it."

Olivia held her phone out in front of her and checked the top right corner. No bars. Perfect. "Nothing," she said sounding disappointed.

Nick gave her his phone and she checked his, too. "Nope." She gave it back to Nick.

"Maybe we should turn south on the next road we see and go from there," she suggested.

"Yeah, that's probably not a bad idea," he agreed.

A few minutes later they were able to make out a small green sign denoting the name of a road. CR 208. Nick turned the car right onto the road, the car's back-end sliding slightly too far left before he was able to right it and continue on. The road was a series of hills through a lightly forested area, though they could barely make out the trees with all the snow.

"You and Zara have big plans for this weekend," Olivia asked, her eyes scanning the tree line.

"Not really. I thought maybe we'd go see a movie, but with weather like this we might be staying home. What about you?"

"Nothing. I'm staying in the apartment as much as possible," she said with a smile.

"Cassidy working," Nick asked.

"Who knows? Anymore I assume he is and I'm pleasantly surprised when he's not," she said and then looked at Nick and added, "That doesn't happen very often."

Nick nodded his head in understanding. "This is none of my business and maybe I should just keep my mouth shut..."

There was a pause and Olivia continued looking out the window.

"What is this moron doing," Nick said in an exasperated tone. Olivia eyebrows rose in confusion and she turned to look at Nick who was focused on a pair of bright lights coming toward them. The car was swerving erratically and Nick honked his horn and flashed his lights trying to ensure that they were seen. This appeared to have the desired effect for the moment as the car took up its correct position on right side of the road. Nick's posture relaxed.

"Sorry, I don't know what that guy's doing."

Olivia continued to watch the car ahead as Nick continued the conversation where he'd left off. Nick must've asked her a question because she felt him looking at her out of her periphery. She, however, was horrified and transfixed by the sight of the car swerving back into their path. She pointed ahead and Nick seemed to register her shock because he turned back to the road just in time to see the pair of bright lights, closer, coming right at them. Nick veered out of the path of the oncoming car into the ditch and the last thing Olivia saw was a tree before her world went black.

* * *

"Liv."

She was aware of someone calling her name. It sounded far away and slightly jumbled. She tried to focus on the voice, it was warm and filled with concern. She knew it...Nick. It was Nick's voice. But what happened? She took an inventory of her body and noted she felt coarse material against her face and a throbbing in her head. And then she remembered. They had been driving back from the conference in the snow and they...crashed. She tried to lift her head but found the throbbing increased with the movement.

"Ouch," she winced, lifting her head and slowly opening her eyes.

"Thank God," Nick sighed. "You had me worried there for a minute."

She managed to focus her eyes on Nick and found him examining her with concerned eyes. "You ok," he asked. "Looks like you cut your head."

"Fine," she grimaced. She put a hand to her head and touched the cut there. Her fingers came away with some of her blood. "Going to have a serious headache. You?"

"I'm ok. But I think my knee is pretty messed up," he said with a similar grimace.

She looked across the seat, below the deployed air bag trying to get a look at his knee. She couldn't see much except that the car seemed to have bent in a way that squeezed his left knee into the driver side door. She let out a deep breath.

"Can you get it out?"

He wiggled the piece of car, bending it back away from his leg. He slid his leg back just enough to free it from where it had previously been trapped.

"Piece of cake," he said exhaling loudly.

"Ok, we need to get some help out here. There's no way this car is going anywhere." Olivia patted the floor around her seat looking for her phone. She finally felt it picked it up, holding it out in front of her. No bars.

"Nick, do you know where your phone is?"

He slowly reached into this jacket pocket and pulled out his phone.

"Any signal," Olivia asked.

Nick studied his phone, then shook his head.

"Ok, we could sit here for hours if we don't call for help. There's no one out on these roads except the idiot who ran us off it. I'm going go find a spot with service and make a call," she told him. "I'll be right back."

He grabbed her arm. "Liv, it's dangerous out there, if a car comes by they might not see you."

"Nick, I'll be fine. I'll make it quick, there's no way I'm letting you do it with that knee," she said motioning to his left leg.

Nick gave a defeated nod. He watched her leave the car and begin walking up to the road and down a ways, holding the phone out in front of her. After a few minutes, she seemed to have found the spot she was looking for because she stopped and put the phone to her ear.

She returned a few minutes later.

"Ok, there's good news and bad news...which one do you want first," she asked, eyeing him wearily.

He shrugged. And rested his head back against the headrest, closing his eyes. "Surprise me."

"Well, the good news is I was able to make a call and report the accident. The bad news is, with this weather, it could be awhile before someone gets to us."

"Perfect." He was gritting his teeth, his eyes still closed. Olivia noticed this and studied him carefully.

"Hey, how's your leg?"

"It's fine, just a little sore," he answered, opening his eyes and turning to her. "So much for getting home tonight, huh?"

"Yeah," she murmured, looking ahead to the smashed front end of their car. "I'm sorry, this is my fault. You didn't even want to go to this conference."

Truthfully she hadn't either, but the brass had decreed that SVU was presenting there, which pretty much meant she was presenting there seeing as she was running the squad. And since they'd been given another registration spot in the conference, and she wasn't keen on suffering alone, she'd spent all last week convincing Nick to go with her.

"No," he agreed, following her eyes. "I didn't. But it is what it is. At least we're alive."

She gave him an apologetic look, then wrapped her arms around herself, trying to control the shivering that was taking over her body.

"It's getting cold, fast," Nick declared, watching her pull gloves from her pockets and put them on.

Olivia nodded her head in agreement. "I'm going to go take a look in the trunk and see if there's an extra coat or something. Who knows how long we're going to be sitting here."

"Liv, you could have a concussion, you need to rest."

"Nick, it's 4 feet, I'll be right back." She opened the car door and walked to the back of the car. He heard the trunk open and the sound of things thumping against the trunk as Olivia moved them around. A few minutes later she came back looking pleased with herself and holding something green. "I found a blanket in the trunk," she said holding it up for him to examine.

"Nice," he said happily.

She started to spread it out across him and then herself. She pulled the blanket up to her chin.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the snow continue to fall around them. They were both still shivering, fidgeting uncontrollably as they tried to stay warm.

"This isn't working," Olivia said, teeth chattering. "It's still so cold."

"Yeah," Nick said, watching the smoky appearance of his breath in the frigid air. "You think they make electric blankets with car adapters? We could use one of those right now."

They both chuckled through the chattering of their teeth.

Olivia was wracked by a new wave of shivers. It was freezing, she was freezing. She'd kill for any source of heat right now. She contemplated the idea for a few more seconds and then she made a decision. She turned to the back seat for a few seconds and then stared at Nick. "Do you think you can make it to the back seat?"

"Probably, why," he asked, curious.

Her mouth turned up slightly, knowing she was never going to hear the end of this, but too cold to care. "How do you feel about getting a little closer?"

Nick seemed to follow her line of thinking, he turned his head to look back and then grinned at Olivia. "If you insist."

She smiled and shook her head. "Ok, hold on, I'm going to come over to your side and help you get back there."

She opened the car door and walked around to Nick's side, opening the dented driver side door. She knelt down by his left leg and winced. "Just a little sore, huh?" She fixed him with an admonishing gaze. His jeans were torn open around the knee, his leg was bleeding and Olivia could see the beginning of some serious bruising around his knee.

"It's fine," Nick said, waving off her concern.

"Nick are you sure you want to move it," she asked skeptically.

"Yeah. If it's going to help us get warmer, I'll drag my leg 50 miles," he joked. He spun in the seat, Olivia helping to move his injured leg outside of the crumpled car. He put his good leg down and put one hand on the seat and one hand in Olivia's, pushing up out of the car. She helped him hobble to the door to the back seat, opened it and let him ease himself down. Once he was set, she closed the door and then ran around to the other side. She got in next to Nick and then leaned forward to the front seat and grabbed the green blanket. She threw it across them and leaned into her partner.

"This is better," she said.

"A little bit," he allowed. He felt her tremor uncontrollably against his arm, his own body vibrating consistently trying to keep warm.

"Sorry, I guess better's a relative term," she stuttered through the cold. "I'm sure they'll be here soon." She looked up at him and noticed that he didn't look convinced.

"Hey, can I move you for just a second," he asked lifting her gently off the arm she was leaning against. She sat back watching him as he pulled the blanket down and began removing his coat.

"What are you doing," she asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

He had one arm out of his coat and was working on the other, the casual black sweater he'd opted for, visible underneath. "I'm taking my coat off, take yours off."

"Nick, I realize this was my idea, but we're not getting naked."

He gave a final tug, dislodging his coat from behind his back and pulled it in front of him. He stopped and stared at her, amusement playing across his features.

"That is really disappointing. Like you have no idea," he told her with a straight face, puffs of his breath visible in the air in front of him.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

He laughed. "Get your mind out of the gutter Sergeant, just the coat. We need to get rid of these big layers, get some body heat."

"I should've asked Fin to come with me," she muttered, while shrugging out of hers.

Nick chuckled and helped pull it off of her, she shivered violently in the three-quarter length baby blue shirt she was wearing.

"Ok, come here," Nick said, beckoning her with a wave of his hand. She obliged, scooting next to him and folding into her partner as he put his arm around her.

They threw their coats over themselves and then wrapped the green blanket over the coats, tucking it in behind them so they were perfectly encapsulated.

"Now this is better," Nick said, running his hand up and down her arm. He closed his eyes and leaned back, relaxing the tension from his body.

"Mmmmhmm," Olivia murmured, basking in the warmth. "It really is." She laid her head against her partner's firm chest and shut her eyes. She imagined they probably looked pretty ridiculous, but huddled together as they were, underneath the coats and the blanket, the warmth of their bodies radiating heat between them, it was the most comfortable she'd been since they crashed.

"How's your leg," Olivia asked, lifting her head off of his chest to meet his eyes.

"About the same," he said dispassionately, he cradled her head and gently pushed it back to his chest. "Don't worry about it. I'm more concerned about that hard head of yours."

"Well, like you said, it's hard," she said smiling against his chest. Nick laughed a little and she felt his muscles move beneath her.

They both stared out the window of the car, watching the snow fall. It seemed to have slowed down some, though that wasn't saying much. The wind was picking up and they listened to it howl around them.

Olivia felt her eyes getting heavy. Something about their newfound warmth and the security of being wrapped into her partner's body...it was comforting.

Nick continued to run a hand up and down her arm in a slow, soothing motion. It was hypnotic and only added to the sleepy fog taking over her head.

"Liv, you awake still?"

"Yep," she said in a soft, dreamy voice.

"That," Nick emphasized the word, "is not inspiring much confidence. You probably have a concussion, you have to stay awake."

He maneuvered his head so he could see her eyes. They were closed.

"Olivia, seriously, you've got to stay awake." Her eyes remained closed, but she nodded her head against his chest. He sighed in frustration.

"Talk to me," she finally said sleepily. She placed her right hand against his chest near her head.

He relaxed a little and looked down at her. "About what?"

"What were you going to say earlier before we crashed? When you said it was none of your business?"

"Oh, that. Uh...I was just going to say that I wanted you to be happy and right now, you don't seem very happy," Nick said uncomfortably.

"Hmmm...we don't get to be happy all the time, Nick."

"You should. After..."

"Don't say it," she said turning her head so it was completely buried in his chest, like she was hiding from what he was trying to say. "Please don't say after everything I've been through. I'm so tired of that line."

"Ok," he said, with a half-smile. "Then you should get to be happy all the time because of who you are as a person. An incredible, strong, intelligent, caring person. That better?"

"Not really," she grumbled.

He laughed lightly.

"You know Cassidy and I...we'll never be buddies. But if he makes you happy? Then ok. But if he doesn't? Well, let's just say I volunteer to pack his bags and throw them out into the street for you," he told her with a mixture of humor and toughness.

Olivia chuckled and tapped his chest lightly with her right hand. "I'll keep that in mind," she finally opened her eyes and shifted so she could look up at him, "What about you? Have you and Maria worked things out?"

He shook his head. "No, that's not going to happen. I realize that now. But with everything that was going on...the shooting, the changes in the squad room - it felt like the only safe place to go. Like if I got my family back, then everything else would go back to normal. The shooting would go away, work would go back to the way it used to be."

"You mean I wouldn't be your boss," she asked hesitantly, gazing out the window.

"No, I don't care about you being my boss," he explained. "I care about us not being partners anymore."

"We're still partners, Nick," she said softly.

"Sometimes," he allowed, "but it's different. I miss the way things were. I miss you." He squeezed her to him and put his chin on top of her head. She didn't fight it, in fact she curled farther into him.

"I miss you, too. To tell you the truth, this boss stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be." She lifted her eyes and gave him a sad smile.

"Yeah, but you're good at it. My loss is everyone else's gain," he conceded.

"You haven't lost anything. We are partners for life. You are stuck with me...forever," she added.

"I like the sound of that," he whispered.

A flicker of light drew both of their gazes to a pair of bright lights in the distance headed their way.

"I bet that's for us," Olivia said, with less enthusiasm then she meant to have. But right now, as they were, it didn't feel like a hardship at all. It felt like simply existing in the type of warmth and glow that was so inviting that she didn't want to leave it.

"You know what's sad? My leg is killing me, I'm worried about your concussion, we almost froze to death, we're stuck in the middle of nowhere and this is, by far, the best part of this whole 3 day conference."

Olivia laughed. "I don't know if that's more of a condemnation of the conference or an endorsement of my company."

"There's no one I'd rather be stranded with," he said, smiling.

"Ditto," she said simply.

Bright lights had run them off of the road that night and bright lights would carry them away, but it was the time between the bright lights that made the night.


End file.
